


Sixty Feet Down

by Requiem



Category: due South
Genre: Huddling For Warmth, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Post-Canon, Trapped in an Ice Crevasse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:53:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23945008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Requiem/pseuds/Requiem
Summary: Ray and Fraser fall into an ice crevasse. Again.
Relationships: Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski
Comments: 6
Kudos: 59
Collections: Hurt Comfort Exchange 2020





	Sixty Feet Down

**Author's Note:**

  * For [feroxargentea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feroxargentea/gifts).



It had to be a sign. Getting stuck in two icy crevasses in just as many months? If Ray had been by himself, he would've written it off as another stroke of his infamous bad luck, but when Fraser was involved, something bigger was always afoot. Ergo, it had to be some kind of sign.

Really, though, if anyone was going to be blamed for their current situation, it was probably Ray. First of all, he was the one who'd suggested they go off on this Arctic adventure instead of doing something civilised like bowling or karaoke. Second of all, Fraser had gone over the protocol for what to do if either of them were to fall into an ice crevasse, had repeated it over and over while Ray had nodded impatiently and said, "Yeah, Fraser, I got it."

They'd even practised a few times, tumbling down pristine slopes while Fraser critiqued Ray's technique, telling him to bring his ice axe in further under his shoulder, or to lift his feet higher off the ground, until Ray, bruised and sore, had called it quits to sit around the fire with the dogs. Of course, when it really mattered, when he and Fraser had roped up and gone for a walk up a nearby glacier to watch the sunrise and Fraser had plunged through the snow, Ray had only flailed around uselessly before falling right into the crevasse after Fraser.

So here they were now, on some sort of ledge a good fifty or sixty feet from the sliver of blue sky Ray could see above him. Fraser had landed about ten feet away, but he hadn't come over to check on Ray or berate him for not following procedure yet, so Ray decided to go over with the intention of annoying Fraser out of whatever funk he was in now.

Or he tried to, but a sharp pain shot up his right leg, and he let out a yell that echoed around him. When the pain subsided a little, Ray reached down to feel for the wound, but quickly retracted his hand when the pain got worse. He couldn't see any blood on his clothes or the ice around him, though, so it was probably just a broken leg. Heh. 'Just' a broken leg. Like that made this situation any better.

As he kept very still and waited for the cold to numb the pain, Ray realised that he hadn't heard anything from Fraser since he'd last said, "The view will make it all worthwhile, Ray, trust me," before falling into the crevasse.

"Fraser? You awake over there?"

No answer.

"Okay, I'm gonna try to come over, just uh…stay where you are!"

Ray laboriously crawled over, his teeth gritted against the pain that lanced through his leg with every movement that jarred the broken bone. So, pretty much all of them. As he got closer to Fraser, the first thing he noticed was the streaks of blood on the walls of the crevasse.

"Oh God, oh no, please, Fraser." Ray began to move as fast as he could, spurred on by a sense of urgency that he hadn't felt earlier when he'd still been convinced Fraser would have them out of this mess in a jiffy.

The blood was coming from a wound on the side of Fraser's head. It looked like there was a lot of it, but Fraser was still breathing and had a steady pulse, so maybe not all hope was lost yet. Ray tied his scarf around Fraser's head to apply pressure to the wound, and not for the first time, wondered just what the _hell_ he was doing here. He was a city boy through and through, and he wasn't cut out for long treks through the wilderness where every step could send you plummeting into a crack in the ice. He should've just stuck to the life he'd had back in Chicago instead of following Fraser around like a lost puppy.

Who was he kidding; he'd never really _lived_ until he'd met Fraser. Wasn't that a scary thought?

"Frase? Buddy?" Ray gave Fraser's shoulder a light shake. "You gotta wake up, I think my leg is broken and there's no way I'm gonna be able to get us outta here. I need you. Please."

Ray's pleas went unheard, Fraser remaining quiet and unmoving.

This crevasse was wider than the last one they'd been stuck in, and they hadn't fallen as far, but that was about the only good news. On either end of the ledge that had caught them was a sheer drop into a chasm so deep Ray couldn't see the bottom, and the walls of the crevasse were so smooth and steep Ray didn't think he would be able to climb out even if he had two working arms and legs and if the ice axe Fraser had been carrying hadn't been lost.

Ray had a knife, though, and he knew Fraser kept one strapped to himself as well, so he thought maybe he could cut some handholds into the ice. But it was a long way to the top, and an awfully long way to fall if he slipped.

As Ray was looking up, trying to calculate his odds of success, a familiar furry face appeared at the top of the crevasse, slightly out of focus but still instantly recognisable.

"Dief!" Ray yelled in relief. Never had he been so glad to see Fraser's smartass, personal-space-invading wolf. Everything was going to be okay. "Dief! Go get help!"

Dief cocked his head to the side.

 _I'm yelling at a deaf wolf_ , Ray realised. What a time not to have learned the sign language Fraser kept offering to teach him.

"Go," he said slowly, hoping Dief could read his lips all the way up there. "Get. Help." Ray waved his arms towards where he thought the last town—village?—they'd passed through was.

Dief whined, cocked his head, then disappeared from view.

Ray's elation was short-lived, because even if Dief _was_ successful in getting help, it could well be hours before a rescue team arrived. Fraser had said hypothermia could be deadly in as little as an hour, and it was much colder down here than it was on the surface. Since they'd left camp without their packs, they didn't have their sleeping bags or even their coats to help them stay warm. The best Ray could do was plaster himself against Fraser's side, careful not to jostle any hidden wounds, and hope that it would be enough.

To pass the time until help arrived—and it was going to, it was, he couldn't believe anything else—Ray began to sing quietly to himself that song about the northwest passage and the hand of Franklin, but it turned out he only knew the first few lines, and it quickly became boring. Besides, they didn't have any water, and talking too much would only make him thirsty.

Without anything to occupy his mind, Ray found himself drifting off into a half-conscious state. Part of him was aware that falling asleep could mean he would never wake up again, but the rest of him was too cold and sore to care.

Then, Fraser moved.

"Ray?" he said faintly.

"Fraser!" Ray propped himself up on one arm so he could lean over Fraser.

Fraser looked dazed and confused, but broke out into a dopey smile when he saw Ray.

"Ray," he said again, the sound coming out slurred.

That was bad, right? It meant brain damage, or a concussion or something.

"…an angel," Fraser was saying as he blinked sleepily up at Ray.

"Angel? What are you—" Fraser's eyes began to drift shut, and Ray seized his shoulders in a panic. "No, Fraser, angels bad! Do not go into the light!"

Fraser wasn't awake anymore, and Ray couldn't rouse him again.

"Fraser, please, I, I…" Need you? Can't go on without you? Everything Ray could think of that would adequately convey his feelings sounded so…needy.

Ah, to hell with it. If the universe was trying to tell him something by sticking him in this situation again, he was going to make the most of it.

"I love you." In the cold white nothingness, the words sounded loud. "Ever since that thing on the boat last year. No, before. I dunno. Point is, I guess the only reason I'm saying this now is 'cause…hell, I might not get another chance, right? So this is just in case. You probably can't even hear me. But if you can…I won't lose you. I can't. We're gonna get outta here and everything's gonna be alright. I promise. You just hang in there a little longer."

There had to be something more he could do besides lying around falling asleep while waiting for rescue to come. Ray couldn't go far because he had to keep checking that Fraser hadn't gotten too cold and his broken leg wouldn't let him move quickly enough, but he didn't want anything to fall on Fraser as he began to chip out handholds in the ice. You could climb up an ice wall with two hands and one good leg, right?

After what seemed like an infinitely long amount of time, Ray managed to carve out four solid handholds above a small ledge of ice he could put his left foot on. The next step would be to start climbing, something he was trying to psych himself up to do when he heard a noise coming from where Fraser was lying.

"Ray," the noise sounded like.

"Yeah?" Ray said, hardly daring to hope.

"Ray."

That was definitely his name.

"Yeah, Frase?" Ray scrambled over as fast as he could, gritting his teeth when he lost his grip on the wall of the crevasse and fell hard on his left knee, jarring his right leg.

"Come here." Fraser had one hand outstretched.

Ray crawled the last few feet and anxiously looked Fraser over, expecting some hidden injury he'd missed in his earlier examination. "What is it?"

Fraser's hand came up to rest over Ray's where it was lying on Fraser's chest. "I love you too."

It took a moment for the words to filter through to Ray's brain. "You mean that? I mean, it's not just the head wound talking, or anything?"

Fraser met Ray's eyes, his gaze as steady as it could be for someone whose eyes kept closing. "I've wanted to tell you for a long time. Just never…had the courage. I didn't want to lose what we had."

"Me neither. Fine partners we make, huh?"

"The best," Fraser said without hesitation or sarcasm.

Ray basked in the warmth of that remark for a few seconds before the cold seeped back in.

"I don't mean to be a downer, but we ain't gonna be partners for much longer if we don't get outta here," he said. "Not living ones, at least."

Fraser tried to sit up, but immediately fell back down. Ray caught him before he could hit his head again.

"Nuh uh, no moving," Ray said. "I already looked around. We can't walk out and it'd take a miracle to climb out without any gear, especially since my leg's busted and your head's busted. I already sent Dief to get help."

Fraser nodded. "Then the best thing we can do right now is try to keep warm." He shifted until he was pressed up against Ray, his breath warm on Ray's collarbone.

"Yeah, I can do that." Ray arranged Fraser's scarf so it was wrapped around both of them as much as possible, then hooked an arm over Fraser's waist and pulled him in even closer.

-

What was maybe an hour later, in the world that Ray had almost forgotten was still out there, he thought he heard something. A swishing, thumping sort of something.

"You hear that?" he asked Fraser.

Fraser gradually came back to full awareness and cocked an ear towards the sky. "Ah, a CH-146 Griffon," he said after a few seconds.

"What's that?"

"A helicopter."

"Search and rescue team?"

"Most likely."

Over the sound of the helicopter blades arose distant shouting and barking, then Dief reappeared at the top of the crevasse.

"Dief!" Ray yelled in exhilaration. Everything was going to be okay. "Good boy!"

Dief barked in response and remained standing guard while he waited for the rescuers to catch up.

"You know," Ray said to Fraser, "when you wake up in the hospital, you'll probably forget what we talked about. On account of being concussed and all that."

"If I do…"

"Yeah?"

"Remind me."

"Sure. You bet."


End file.
